Clinical evaluation of patients in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often relies heavily on diagnostic images, such as portable chest radiographic images, for example. It is noted that chest radiographs can be particularly helpful in the ICU for indicating significant or unexpected conditions requiring changes in patient management. To meet the need for readily accessible and rapid diagnostic imaging, equipment such as portable chest radiography equipment has been developed, allowing the ICU clinician to conveniently obtain a radiographic image as needed for the patient.
A concern for effective patient treatment relates to the ability to detect the proper positioning of tubes that have been inserted into the patient. These include, for example, endo-tracheal (ET) tubes, FT tubes, and NT tubes. Proper tube positioning can help to insure delivery or disposal of liquids and gases to and from the patient during a treatment procedure. Improper tube positioning can cause patient discomfort, render a treatment ineffective, or can even be life-threatening. However, even though tubing, wires, and other apparatus used to support the patient appear in a radiographic image, little or no attention has been paid to using this fact to assist patient treatment. Image processing techniques are directed more to eliminating unwanted effects of tube positioning in the obtained image than to the task of tube detection and identification. There is, then, a need for a diagnostic imaging method for detecting and identifying tube position and type.